The Best Custom Shutters, Blinds & Shades!
Proudly Serving The Greater Riverside Area
Bathroom with plantation shutters

Tips For Choosing A Waterproof Window Treatment in Riverside

September 29, 2016

Anywhere you live, from Riverside to hundreds of miles away, your home has a common need with almost every other house in America: waterproof window treatments. Regardless of the structure of your house, the conditions outside, or the size of your family living with you, you’ll typically have the same rooms with humidity: the basement, bathrooms, and the kitchen.

Like most homeowners know, not each window treatment is made equal when it comes to how effectively they handle humidity and moisture. To simplify it, we’ll take a look at proficient each window treatment is at handling wetness and help you find which products work best in the spaces that see the most water.

Level 1: Window Treatments That Don’t Handle Water

Experienced Riverside homeowners are aware that a number of materials just don’t do well with moisture. Go ahead and ask any hardwood floor owner what moisture can do to lumber. Solid wood does not get along with moisture, as it makes wood bloat and bow, which may render wood window treatments inoperable. Extended contact with water can also turn the existing pockets of the lumber into breeding grounds for bacteria. These facts suggest solid wood window treatments should not be used in spaces that get wet such as the bathroom.

Fabric window treatments don’t work too well with humidity either. Despite the fact that the damage to fabric might not be as considerable or easy to see, long term and frequent exposure to moisture can damage the weave of many fabrics, which can cause color fading and fabric weakening.

Level 2: Water-resistant Window Treatments

Riverside kitchen faux wood blinds.
 
Albeit not technically waterproof, window treatments at this level won’t be susceptible to permanent damage when used in humid rooms. This group of window treatments comprises most every product labeled as “faux wood,” like faux wood blinds. Faux wood blinds offer the beauty of a solid wood window treatment, adding top-notch fashion to your bathroom and privacy as well, without the headache that comes whenever the room becomes too steamed up.

Other window treatments that tend to handle most of the damage from moisture are metal blinds. Though they don’t possess the same level of style and coverage that different window treatments do, aluminum blinds are adaptable. They can be purchased in a huge variety of shades, with available cut out possibilities and privacy features, while simultaneously being a great fit for those possible problem rooms. But blinds that possess cords or fabric bands are not optimal for moisture-rich areas.

Level 3: Totally Waterproof Window Treatments

Plantation shutters in Riverside bathroom.
 
Finally, the category that homeowners have been waiting for: the window treatment that laughs off moisture, water, humidity and more like they were nothing. Sunburst Shutters Riverside is happy to offer one of the small number of entirely waterproof window treatments available in our Polywood® plantation shutters. The best partner for the bathroom or laundry room, Polywood shutters are built from a particular composite that is completely invulnerable to the damaging effects of water, whether coming from inside your house or from the weather outside.

Don’t believe it? We know the extent to which Polywood can weather the elements, and we’re so confident in its durability that we guarantee every shutter with our Lifetime Limited Warranty. In fact, if you wanted to, you could blast Polywood shutters with a hose and they’d still function superbly, without any problems.

Make Sure Your Windows Are Ready For Anything, Riverside

If your home is in a coastal or humid part of the country, or if you need better window treatments for the bathroom, a waterproof window treatment should be a chief concern. Let Sunburst Shutters Riverside lend a hand by calling 951-517-3030 to set up your free in-home design consultation. And to receive additional suggestions for those rooms and others, check out our new Ultimate Room Guide to get the lowdown on the most effective window treatments for every space in your Riverside home!